NIH Director's Pioneer Award

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NIH Director's Pioneer Award

Program Snapshot

NIH Director's Pioneer Award

Part of the High-Risk, High-Reward Research program, the award supports scientists with outstanding records of creativity pursuing new research directions to develop pioneering approaches to major challenges in biomedical, social science, and behavioral research.

  • Open to all career stages
  • Single PI only
  • No preliminary data required
  • Must be new scientific research direction
  • Minimum of 51% research effort in first 3 years
  • 3 Letters of Reference required
  • $700,000 in direct costs per year for up to 5 years

See the Award Overview for more information.

Award Overview

The NIH Director’s Pioneer Award (DP1 mechanism), established in 2004, supports highly innovative researchers at any career stage who propose bold research projects with unusually broad scientific impact. To be considered “pioneering,” the proposed research must reflect ideas that are substantially different from those being pursued in the investigator’s research program or elsewhere. No detailed experimental plan or detailed budget is expected, and the major component of the application is a five-page essay describing the project and its innovation and significance, the investigator’s history of being highly innovative, and why the proposed project is suitable for the award. Three letters of reference must also be provided and discuss the applicant’s scientific innovativeness and creativity.

View the Pioneer Award Slideshow

Webinar

NIH program staff discussed funding opportunity RFA-RM-25-001 and answered questions about the application and review process during a pre-recorded Q&A webinar. A video recording of the webinar and the slide presentation are available.

Download slides of webinar presentations

An audio-described version of the recording will be available shortly. If you require assistance before it becomes available, please contact us at the email address below.

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Funded Research

RFA-RM-24-002

PI NAME INSTITUTION NAME TITLE
ABDUS-SABOOR, ISHMAIL JOHN COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY NEW YORK MORNINGSIDE Role of social touch and social memory in organizing naked mole-rat colonies
BONASIO, ROBERTO  UNIVERSITY OF PENNSYLVANIA Epigenetic engrams in planarians
BRUNET, ANNE  STANFORD UNIVERSITY Peripheral nervous system aging
HALPERN, CASEY HARRISON UNIVERSITY OF PENNSYLVANIA Tuning the anterior cingulate from the outside in: a new way forward for treating mental health disorders and beyond
HUANG, KERWYN C STANFORD UNIVERSITY Illuminating the dark matter of the human small intestinal microbiota
KAO, JONATHAN CHAU-YAN UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA LOS ANGELES Restoring complex movement and locomotion after paralysis through collaborative copilots
KORTEMME, TANJA  UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA SAN FRANCISCO De novo design and engineering of biological error correction
SEJNOWSKI, TERRENCE J SALK INSTITUTE FOR BIOLOGICAL STUDIES Temporal Context in Brains and Transformers

RFA-RM-23-004

PI NAME INSTITUTION NAME TITLE
ALLEN, NICOLA J SALK INSTITUTE FOR BIOLOGICAL STUDIES Targeted Degradation of Extracellular Proteins to Enhance Brain Plasticity
CHEN, HONG WASHINGTON UNIVERSITY Ultrasound-induced artificial hibernation: Mimicking natural hibernation to enhance human health
GITAI, ZEMER PRINCETON UNIVERSITY A single-cell approach to developing non-traditional antibiotics
KEPECS, ADAM WASHINGTON UNIVERSITY The cytokine code and neural circuits for sensing inflammation state
LI, NUO DUKE UNIVERSITY Neural control of rhythmic orofacial movements
MANGIA, SILVIA UNIVERSITY OF MINNESOTA Obtaining brain pCO2, pH and pO2 maps via measurements of neurovascular coupling: a novel non-invasive approach to identify the culprits of loss of brain function
MONTELL, DENISE J UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA SANTA BARBARA RaceCAR-M immunotherapy for cancer and beyond
PALLER, KEN A NORTHWESTERN UNIVERSITY Micromanaging Human Sleep Physiology to Treat Sleep Apnea and Other Disorders

RFA-RM-22-018

PI NAME INSTITUTION NAME TITLE
FORDYCE, POLLY MORRELL STANFORD UNIVERSITY Using microfluidics to realize patient-specific anti-cancer immunotherapies
GREENLEAF, WILLIAM JAMES STANFORD UNIVERSITY Combinatorial Cell State Engineering
HOLFORD, MANDE N HUNTER COLLEGE Charting the evolutionary development of novel genes and the molecular mechanisms of gland tissue organization in cephalopods
JOHNSON, KEVIN B UNIVERSITY OF PENNSYLVANIA Helping Doctors Doctor: Using AI to Automate Documentation and "De-Autonomate" Health Care
QI, LEI STANLEY STANFORD UNIVERSITY Manipulating and Interrogating Spatial Transcriptomics
WANG, FAN  MASSACHUSETTS INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY Unraveling the Neural Bases of Body Schema
WITTEN, ILANA  PRINCETON UNIVERSITY Individual differences through self-reinforcement of suboptimal strategies
REIS, TANIA  UNIVERSITY OF COLORADO DENVER Food for thought: a virus-like signal for the energetic demands of higher cognitive functions

RFA-RM-21-015

PI Name Institution Name Title
CAI, LONG CALIFORNIA INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY Single Cell Analysis of the Kinome
DZIRASA, KAFUI DUKE UNIVERSITY Precision Editing of Neural Circuits Using Engineered Electrical Synapses
KRISHNAN, YAMUNA UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO Intracellular Electrophysiology: An Electrochemical Atlas of Organelles
KWONG, GABRIEL A GEORGIA INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY Finding Sleeping Beauty: T Cell Biosensors for Dormant Cancer Detection
NELSON, CELESTE M PRINCETON UNIVERSITY Mechanical Clocks During Fetal Development
RANDLES, AMANDA E DUKE UNIVERSITY Dynamic Models of the Cardiovascular System Capturing Years, Rather Than Heartbeats
ROSE, SHERRI STANFORD UNIVERSITY A Framework for the Social Impact of Algorithms in Health Care
SAWYER, SARA UNIVERSITY OF COLORADO Breaking the Barrier to an HIV Vaccine

RFA-RM-20-011

PI Name Institution Name Title
ANIKEEVA, POLINA O MASSACHUSETTS INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY Fusion of Nanomagnetic and Viral Tools to Interrogate Brain-Body Circuits
CLARK, PATRICIA LOUISE UNIVERSITY OF NOTRE DAME Decoding the Regulation of Protein Folding by Synonymous Codon Usage
COSTA, RUI M COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY HEALTH SCIENCES Brain Control of Internal Organ Function
GACK, MICHAELA ULRIKE CLEVELAND CLINIC LERNER COM-CWRU Defining the Viral PTMome: Towards the Development of Novel Antiviral Approaches
HIGLEY, MICHAEL JAMES YALE UNIVERSITY Bridging Cellular and Systems Neuroscience: Synaptic Dynamics Underlying Behavior
HUANG, Z JOSH DUKE UNIVERSITY RNA-Programmable Cell-Type Targeting, Editing, and Therapy
MURPHY, COLEEN TARA PRINCETON UNIVERSITY Cracking the Code of Transgenerational Inheritance of Behavior
PHILLIPS-CREMINS, JENNIFER ELIZABETH UNIVERSITY OF PENNSYLVANIA From 3D Genomes to Neural Connectomes: Higher-Order Chromatin Mechanisms Encoding Long-Term Memory
RICHARDS, LINDA J WASHINGTON UNIVERSITY Emergence of Activity Patterns in the Cerebral Cortex and Their Influence on Brain Circuit Development and Function
SHAPIRO, MIKHAIL CALIFORNIA INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY Sonogenetic Remote Control of Cellular Function

RFA-RM-19-005

PI Name Institution Name Title
BARRON, ANNELISE EMILY STANFORD UNIVERSITY Role of Innate Immune Dysregulation in the Etiology of Dementia
COLLINS, KATHLEEN UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA BERKELEY Human Genetic Supplementation Without Donor DNA or a DNA Break
HARVEY, CHRISTOPHER D HARVARD MEDICAL SCHOOL Toward Mechanistic Cognitive Neuroscience: Cell Types, Connectivity, and Patterned Perturbations
KIM, PETER S STANFORD UNIVERSITY Creating High-Resolution, Epitope-Focused Vaccines
LITT, BRIAN UNIVERSITY OF PENNSYLVANIA Ghost in the Machine: Melding Brain, Computer and Behavior
QIAN, SHU-BING CORNELL UNIVERSITY A Genetic Circuit Formed by Ribosomes
ROSENBERG, SUSAN M BAYLOR COLLEGE OF MEDICINE Harnessing Proteins as Drugs: the Protectome of Cancer- and Aging-Prevention Proteins
SCHOGGINS, JOHN W UT SOUTHWESTERN MEDICAL CENTER A Functional Evolutionary Genetic Approach to Combat Viral Infection
VEESLER, DAVID UNIVERSITY OF WASHINGTON Unraveling the Bat Humoral Immune Response Against Zoonotic Viruses to Guide the Design of Next-Generation Therapeutics
ZERNICKA-GOETZ, MAGDALENA CALIFORNIA INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY Placental Models to Support Embryogenesis In Vitro

RFA-RM-18-007

PI Name Institution Name Title
ANDERMANN, MARK L BETH ISRAEL DEACONESS MEDICAL CENTER Look Inward: Brainstem and Cortical Circuits for Boosting Interoceptive Attention
EBERWINE, JAMES H UNIVERSITY OF PENNSYLVANIA The Secret Lives of RNA: The In Vivo 3D-Structural Logic of Single Neuron RNA Metabolism
ELISSEEFF, JENNIFER H JOHNS HOPKINS UNIVERSITY Biomaterials-Directed Regenerative Immunotherapies
GRECO, VALENTINA YALE UNIVERSITY Defining the Role of Mutational Burden in Sustaining Normal Homeostasis During Aging
HERMAN, CHRISTOPHE BAYLOR COLLEGE OF MEDICINE A Synthetic Platform for Non-Antibiotic Eradication of Bacterial Infections
HUR, SUN BOSTON CHILDREN'S HOSPITAL Resolving Functional Aggregates: A New Perspective on Innate Immune Control
KNIGHT, ROB UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, SAN DIEGO Mapping Host-Microbe-Metabolite Interactions in 3D to Find Diet-Derived Enhancers of Immunity
LEE, JIN HYUNG STANFORD UNIVERSITY From Optogenetic Functional MRI to Mechanogenetic Functional Ultrasound
PICCIOTTO, MARINA R YALE UNIVERSITY Acetylcholine Signaling Allows Cognitive Processes in the Brain to Regulate Physiological Responses to the Environment: The Example of Central Control of Opiate Tolerance
PLOEGH, HIDDE L BOSTON CHILDREN'S HOSPITAL Imposing Order on the Family of Ubiquitin-Conjugating (E2) Enzymes Through Intracellular Perturbation with Nanobodies
SCHEURING, SIMON WEILL MEDICAL COLL OF CORNELL UNIV Enabling Physical Stimuli in the Study of Structural Dynamics: The Sensory Ion Channels

RFA-RM-17-005

PI Name Institution Name Title
AYRES, JANELLE S SALK INSTITUTE FOR BIOLOGICAL STUDIES Host-Microbe Interactions: Harnessing Co-Evolution to Treat Disease
COLON-RAMOS, DANIEL A YALE UNIVERSITY Powering the Brain: The Cell Biology of Neuroenergetics
CURTIS, CHRISTINA N STANFORD UNIVERSITY Forecasting Tumor Evolution: Can the Past Reveal the Future?
GRADINARU, VIVIANA CALIFORNIA INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY Circuit-Specific Delivery of Large Cargo Across the Nervous Systems of Adult Mammals and Embryos Via Novel Engineered Systemic Vectors
KIPNIS, JONATHAN UNIVERSITY OF VIRGINIA Neural Code of the Immune Responses
KWON, HYUNGBAE MAX PLANCK FLORIDA CORPORATION Cracking the Neuromodulation Code at Single Cell Resolution
MONJE-DEISSEROTH, MICHELLE STANFORD UNIVERSITY Glioma Circuitry: Bridging Systems Neuroscience and Cancer
VICTORA, GABRIEL D ROCKEFELLER UNIVERSITY Quantifying Cell-Cell Interactions in the Immune System by Trans-Synaptic Labeling
WAGERS, AMY JO HARVARD UNIVERSITY Uncovering Molecular Effectors of Mammalian Aging
YIN, PENG HARVARD UNIVERSITY High-Throughput Single-Molecule Protein Identification Via Super-Resolution Imaging

RFA-RM-16-005

PI Name Institution Name Title
DAI, HONGJIE STANFORD UNIVERSITY Human Infrared Vision at Molecular and Cellular Scale
ETKIN, AMIT STANFORD UNIVERSITY A “Circuits-First” Platform for Personalized Neurostimulation Treatment
FINE, HOWARD A WEILL MEDICAL COLL OF CORNELL UNIV Human Brain Cancer, Rather than Brain Cancer Cells, on a Plate
LIEBER, CHARLES M HARVARD UNIVERSITY Syringe-Injectable Mesh Electronics for Seamless Integration with the Central Nervous System
MACKLIS, JEFFREY D HARVARD UNIVERSITY Subcellular RNA-Proteome Mapping in Subtype- and Circuit-Specific Growth Cones: Development, Cell Biology, Disease, and Regeneration
MARRAFFINI, LUCIANO A ROCKEFELLER UNIVERSITY Generation of Immunological Memory by CRISPR-Cas Systems
SCHIER, ALEXANDER F HARVARD UNIVERSITY DNA-Mediated Recording of Cellular History
SHIEKHATTAR, RAMIN UNIVERSITY OF MIAMI SCHOOL OF MEDICINE Enhancer RNA Therapy
SINCLAIR, DAVID A HARVARD MEDICAL SCHOOL Uncovering the Human Secretome
SONNENBURG, JUSTIN STANFORD UNIVERSITY Defining and Reconstructing the Human Ancestral Microbiome
TYE, KAY MAXINE MASSACHUSETTS INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY Neural Circuit Mechanisms of Social Homeostasis in Individuals and Supraorganismal Social Groups
ZHANG, FENG BROAD INSTITUTE, INC. Exploration of Diverse Mobile Genetic Elements for Precision Genome Manipulation

RFA-RM-13-006

PI Name Institution Name Title
BALDWIN, KRISTIN KAY SCRIPPS RESEARCH INSTITUTE Defining a Transcriptional Periodic Table of the Human Brain Using Reprogramming
BERNSTEIN, BRADLEY EVAN MASSACHUSETTS GENERAL HOSPITAL Epigenetic Plasticity in Tumor Initiation and Evolution
FISCHBACH, MICHAEL ANDREW UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, SAN FRANCISCO A Complete Map of the Top 100 Molecules from the Gut Microbiome
HASSON, URI PRINCETON UNIVERSITY Speaker-Listener Coupling: A Novel Neural Approach for Assessing Communication
IZPISUA BELMONTE, JUAN CARLOS SALK INSTITUTE FOR BIOLOGICAL STUDIES Generation of Functional Human Organs and Tissues Using Interspecific Blastocyst Complementation
KANWISHER, NANCY MASSACHUSETTS INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY How Does the Functional Organization of the Human Brain Arise in Development?
LIBERLES, STEPHEN DANIEL HARVARD MEDICAL SCHOOL Sensory Receptors of the Vagus Nerve
MAYR, CHRISTINE SLOAN-KETTERING INST CAN RESEARCH 3'UTR-Mediated Protein-Protein Interactions Determine Protein Functions
RABINOWITZ, JOSHUA D PRINCETON UNIVERSITY Metabolism in Action: Quantitative Fluxes in Mammals
WANG, MENG CARLA BAYLOR COLLEGE OF MEDICINE Decode the Chemical Language that Orchestrates Cellular and Organismal Homeostasis
WAY, SING SING CINCINNATI CHILDRENS HOSP MED CTR Immunological Identity Redefined by Genetically Foreign Microchimeric Cells
YUN, SEOK-HYUN ANDY MASSACHUSETTS GENERAL HOSPITAL Massive Wavelength-Division Multiplexing and Imaging with Laser Particles

RFA-RM-13-006

PI Name Institution Name Title
BOSCO, GIOVANNI DARTMOUTH COLLEGE Trans-Generational Effects of Social Learning?
COX, JEFFERY S UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, SAN FRANCISCO Host-Directed Strategies to Create Synergistic Antibacterial Therapies
DISNEY, MATTHEW D SCRIPPS FLORIDA Using a Disease-Affected Cell to Synthesize Its Own Drug
GITAI, ZEMER PRINCETON UNIVERSITY Mechano-Microbiology: How Physical Forces Control Bacterial-Host Interactions
HOWARD, JONATHON YALE UNIVERSITY Cell Biological Limitations Constrain Dendritic Branching Morphology and Neuronal Function
MONTELL, CRAIG UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA SANTA BARBARA Creation of a New Generation of Transgenic Mosquitoes to Control Infectious Disease
MURPHY, COLEEN TARA PRINCETON UNIVERSITY Toward the Tissue-ome: A Map of the C. elegans Cell-specific Transcriptome
RANDOLPH, GWENDALYN J WASHINGTON UNIVERSITY Integrating Cell & Lipoprotein Trafficking with Vascular Biology in Human IBD
SCHIFF, STEVEN J PENNSYLVANIA STATE UNIVERSITY Control of the Neonatal Septisome and Hydrocephalus in Sub-Saharan Africa
WU, HAO CHILDREN'S HOSPITAL CORPORATION SMOCs: Novel Signal Transduction Complexes as New Targets for Drug Discovery
WYSS-CORAY, TONY PALO ALTO VETERANS INSTIT FOR RESEARCH A Bioorthogonal Approach to Study Mammalian Aging
YASUDA, RYOHEI MAX PLANCK FLORIDA CORPORATION Deciphering Biochemical Networks in Single Dendritic Spines
ZHONG, SHENG UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA SAN DIEGO Mapping RNA interactomes by Sequencing

RFA-RM-13-006

PI Name Institution Name Title
AMBATI, JAYAKRISHNA UNIVERSITY OF KENTUCKY Form and Function of Our Janus Faced Genome
GU, CHENGHUA HARVARD MEDICAL SCHOOL New Tools for Understanding the Blood Brain Barrier
LAURENCIN, CATO T, MD, PHD UNIVERSITY OF CONNECTICUT HEALTH CENTER Regenerative Engineering of Complex Musculoskeletal Tissues and Joints
MONTELL, DENISE J UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA SANTA BARBARA Anastasis, a New Mechanism Driving Cell Survival and Evolution
NOVINA, CARL D DANA-FARBER CANCER INSTITUTE Engineering Epigenetic Therapy for Sickle Cell Disease
PALMER, AMY E UNIVERSITY OF COLORADO Regulation of Cell Signaling by Transition Metal Dynamics
PE'ER, DANA COLUMBIA UNIV NEW YORK MORNINGSIDE Single Cell Mapping of Developmental Trajectories Underlying Health and Disease
RANDO, OLIVER J UNIV OF MASSACHUSETTS MED SCH WORCESTER tRNA Fragments as Transgenerational Information Carriers
SPIEGELMAN, DONNA L HARVARD SCHOOL OF PUBLIC HEALTH Comprehensive Translational Science Analytics Tools for the Global Health Agenda
WU, SEAN M STANFORD UNIVERSITY Enabling Technologies for Human-Machine Hybrid Tissues

RFA-RM-12-015

PI Name Institution Name Title
ARNSTEN, AMY F T YALE UNIVERSITY Highly Evolved Brain Circuits in Primates: Molecular Vulnerabilities for Disease
BOYDEN, EDWARD S MASSACHUSETTS INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY Millisecond-Timescale Whole-Brain Neural Activity Mapping in Health and Disease
GLADYSHEV, VADIM N BRIGHAM AND WOMEN'S HOSPITAL Mechanisms of Lifespan Control
KHAKH, BALJIT UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA LOS ANGELES Astrocyte Branchlet Dysfunction as an Early Step in Brain Disorders

LIN, MICHAEL Z

 

 STANFORD UNIVERSITY Optogenetics for All: A General Method for Optical Control of Protein Activity
SHENDURE, JAY ASHOK UNIVERSITY OF WASHINGTON Interpreting Genetic Variants of Uncertain Significance
TRAYANOVA, NATALIA A JOHNS HOPKINS UNIVERSITY Virtual Electrophysiology Laboratory
WANG, FAN DUKE UNIVERSITY Toward Causal Neuroscience: Capture and Manipulate Emergent Neuronal Ensembles
WEINBERGER, LEOR S J. DAVID GLADSTONE INSTITUTES Evolvable Resistance-Proof Therapies
XIE, XIAOLIANG SUNNEY HARVARD UNIVERSITY Probing Dynamics of the Human Genome by Single Cell Sequencing
YUSTE, RAFAEL M COLUMBIA UNIV NEW YORK MORNINGSIDE Functional Connectomics of the Neocortical Microcircuit
ZYLKA, MARK J UNIV OF NORTH CAROLINA CHAPEL HILL The Elongation Hypothesis of Autism

RFA-RM-11-004

PI Name Institution Name Title
BRUNET, ANNE STANFORD UNIVERSITY Transgenerational Epigenetic Inheritance of Longevity
MARCOTTE, EDWARD M UNIVERSITY OF TEXAS AUSTIN Next-Generation Proteomics: Massively Parallel Single-Molecule Protein Identification & Quantification
PLOEGH, HIDDE L WHITEHEAD INSTITUTE FOR BIOMEDICAL RESEARCH A New Strategy to Disrupt Protein-Protein Interactions in Eukaryotic Cells
SMOLKE, CHRISTINA D STANFORD UNIVERSITY Synthetic Biology Platforms for Natural Product Discovery and Biosynthesis
TANG, YI UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA LOS ANGELES Rediscovering Natural Chemical Diversity
TSAO, DORIS YING CALIFORNIA INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY Understanding the Circuit for Topological Object Tracking
WANG, LIHONG WASHINGTON UNIVERSITY IN ST. LOUIS Photon Tunneling: Shedding New Light on Biomedicine
WU, CHAO-TING HARVARD UNIVERSITY The Inheritance of Position: It's Not Just Who You Are, It's Where You Are
YELLEN, GARY I HARVARD UNIVERSITY Single Cell Analysis of Metabolism Using Genetically-Encoded Fluorescent Sensors
ZHANG, FENG BROAD INSTITUTE, INC. Probing Neuropsychiatric Diseases Using Targeted Epigenome and Genome Engineering

RFA-RM-10-008

PI Name Institution Name Title
BANERJEE, UTPAL UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA LOS ANGELES Developmental Control of Metabolism
BASS, BRENDA L UNIVERSITY OF UTAH Cellular Double-Stranded RNA as a Signal of Stress, Immunity, and Aging
BENNETT, JEAN UNIVERSITY OF PENNSYLVANIA Broad Spectrum Molecular Therapy for Blinding Retina Disorders
CLEMONS, WILLIAM M CALIFORNIA INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY NIH Pioneer Award
ENGERT, FLORIAN HARVARD UNIVERSITY Watching a Vertebrate Brain Learn and Behave in a Virtual Environment
FEINBERG, ANDREW P JOHNS HOPKINS UNIVERSITY A General Stochastic Epigenetic Model for Evolution, Development, and Disease
HILDRETH, JAMES E K MEHARRY MEDICAL COLLEGE Role of Natural Pseudotyping with Other Viruses in HIV Transmission
PAN, TAO UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO Mis-Translation as a New Mechanism of Stress Response in Biology
RAMANATHAN, SHARAD HARVARD UNIVERSITY A Road Map to the Neocortex
SCHNEIDER, DAVID S STANFORD UNIVERSITY Mapping the Road to Recovery - Does the Way We Get Better Differ from the Way We Get Sick?
SIAPAS, ATHANASSIOS G CALIFORNIA INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY Nanoprobe Arrays for Massively Parallel 3-D Recordings of Brain Activity
TOLIAS, ANDREAS SAVAS BAYLOR COLLEGE OF MEDICINE Dissecting the Fabric of the Cerebral Cortex
YANIK, MEHMET FATIH MASSACHUSETTS INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY Generating Transplantable Neurons by In Vivo Combinatorial Screening of Transcription Regulator RNAs

RFA-RM-09-010

PI Name Institution Name Title
BARBAS, CARLOS F SCRIPPS RESEARCH INSTITUTE Chemically Programmed Immunity
BJORKMAN, PAMELA J CALIFORNIA INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY Thwarting HIV Evasion of Antibody Avidity with Novel Antibody Architectures
DRAGOI, VALENTIN UNIVERSITY OF TEXAS HLTH SCI CTR HOUSTON Examining Population Coding Underlying Complex Behavior in Freely Moving Primates
FESIK, STEPHEN W VANDERBILT UNIVERSITY MEDICAL CENTER Expanding the Druggable Genome
HORVATH, TAMAS L YALE UNIVERSITY Hypothalamic AgRP Neurons Are Determinants of Healthy Lifespan and Higher Brain Functions
JOUNG, J KEITH MASSACHUSETTS GENERAL HOSPITAL Advancing Stem Cell Technologies Using Engineered Zinc Finger Proteins
KLEINFELD, DAVID UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA SAN DIEGO Defining the Logic of Neurovascular Signaling in the Brain
LIN, HAIFAN YALE UNIVERSITY Toward a Central Question in Epigenetics: A Major Epigenetic Programming Mechanism Guided by piRNAs
LIU, JUN O JOHNS HOPKINS UNIVERSITY Generation and Proteome-Wide Screening of Hybrid Combinatorial Libraries
MARICQ, ANDRES VILLU UNIVERSITY OF UTAH Simultaneous In Vivo Studies of Synapses, Neurons, and Learning and Memory
NADEAU, JOSEPH H CASE WESTERN RESERVE UNIVERSITY Lamarck Redux: Transgenerational Genetic Effects on Phenotypes and Disease
NICOLELIS, MIGUEL A L DUKE UNIVERSITY A Virtual Reality Simulator to Study VLSBA and Test Brain-Actuating Technologies
RAMAKRISHNAN, LALITA UNIVERSITY OF WASHINGTON Linking the Behavior of Individual Host Cells to Their Transcriptional Signatures
ROLE, LORNA W THE RESEARCH FOUNDATION OF SUNY Unveiling the Role and Taking Control of Cholinergic Tone in Circuits of Attention, Memory and Fear
ROUKES, MICHAEL L CALIFORNIA INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY Nanoscale Tools to Push Biomedical Frontiers
SAMUDRALA, RAM UNIVERSITY OF WASHINGTON Novel Paradigms for Drug Discovery: Computational Multitarget Screening
YANKNER, BRUCE A PRESIDENT AND FELLOWS OF HARVARD COLLEGE Modeling the Aging Epigenome

RFA-RM-09-001

PI Name Institution Name Title
BENJAMIN, IVOR J UNIVERSITY OF UTAH Protein Misfolding Diseases and Oxido-Reductive Pathways
CHAWLA, AJAY STANFORD UNIVERSITY Immune Triggers of Tissue Regeneration
CHEN, CHANG-ZHENG STANFORD UNIVERSITY The Role of Pre-miRNA Loop in Target Regulation by microRNA Genes
CHEROUTRE, HILDE MC LA JOLLA INST FOR ALLERGY & IMMUNOLGY Uncovering the Missing Link that Determines Susceptibility to Autoimmunity
COVERT, MARKUS W STANFORD UNIVERSITY A Gene-Complete Computational Model of Yeast
DESIMONE, JOSEPH M UNIV OF NORTH CAROLINA CHAPEL HILL Delivery of Biological Therapeutics: Using Engineered Particles and Novel Delivery Methods to Address Unmet Needs
EVANS, SYLVIA M UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA SAN DIEGO Approaches to Cardiac Regeneration
FETCHO, JOSEPH R CORNELL UNIVERSITY Global Changes in Synaptic Strength and Excitability During Sleep and Wakefulness
HOLY, TIMOTHY WASHINGTON UNIVERSITY Watching Action Potentials in Intact Neuronal Circuits
REYA, TANNISHTHA DUKE UNIVERSITY Imaging Self-Renewal and Transformation in Hematopoietic Stem Cells
ROBINSON, GENE E UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS AT URBANA-CHAMPAIGN Johnny Bee Good: Bees as Models to Study the Hijacking of the Reward System
ROSENBERG, SUSAN M BAYLOR COLLEGE OF MEDICINE Forward Genomics of Damage Control: An Undiscovered Class of Cancer Genes
SAMSON, LEONA D MASSACHUSETTS INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY Developing Novel Methods to Measure DNA Repair Capacity in Human Populations
SHAH, NIRAO MAHESH UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, SAN FRANCISCO Dissecting the Neural Control of Social Attachment
SHENOY, KRISHNA V STANFORD UNIVERSITY Toward an Animal Model of Freely Moving Human
TISHKOFF, SARAH ANNE UNIVERSITY OF PENNSYLVANIA African Odyssey: An Integrative Genomics Analysis of Complex Physiologic Traits
TRAVIS, ALEXANDER J CORNELL UNIVERSITY Nanoscale Energy Production for Implantable Medical Devices
ZHANG, JIN JOHNS HOPKINS UNIVERSITY Creating a Genetically Encodable Nano-Compass to Navigate in Molecular Networks

RFA-RM-08-013

PI Name Institution Name Title
CHEN, JAMES K STANFORD UNIVERSITY Chemical Embryology: Technologies for Manipulating and Visualizing Development
DOLMETSCH, RICARDO E STANFORD UNIVERSITY Using Induced Pluripotent Stem Cells to Identify Cellular Phenotypes of Autism
EBERWINE, JAMES H UNIVERSITY OF PENNSYLVANIA Cellular Logic of Phenotype
EPSTEIN, JOSHUA M BROOKINGS INSTITUTION Behavioral Epidemiology: Applications of Agent-Based Modeling to Infectious Disease
HAY, BRUCE A CALIFORNIA INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY Engineering the Genetics of Wild Mosquito Populations to Fight Infectious Disease
HOCHSCHILD, ANN HARVARD MEDICAL SCHOOL A New Genetic Approach for Studying Prions and Other Pathogenic Protein Aggregate
LIEBER, CHARLES M HARVARD UNIVERSITY Nanowire Nanoelectronic/Cell Assemblies as Hybrid Functional Biomaterials
LONDON, BARRY UNIVERSITY OF PITTSBURGH AT PITTSBURGH In-Vivo Electrophysiology Imaging
MANIATIS, THOMAS P HARVARD UNIVERSITY Use of Induced Pluripotent Stem Cells to Study Mechanisms of Familial and Sporadic ALS
ODOM, TERI WANG NORTHWESTERN UNIVERSITY Reconstructing Sub-cellular Structure Using Plasmonic Metamaterials
PARK, HONGKUN HARVARD UNIVERSITY Nano- and Microelectronic Tools for Interrogating Neuronal Circuits and Networks
REGEV, AVIV MASSACHUSETTS INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY | BROAD INSTITUTE, INC. The Temporal Reconfiguration of Regulatory Networks: From Yeast to Cancer
SAMUEL, ARAVINTHAN D HARVARD UNIVERSITY Biophysical Approaches to Complex Navigational Behaviors in Larval Drosophila melanogaster
TAVAZOIE, SAEED F PRINCETON UNIVERSITY Towards a Cognitive Framework for Understanding Cellular Behavior
TING, ALICE Y MASSACHUSETTS INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY Enabling the Study of Endogenous Proteins in Live Cells
VAN OUDENAARDEN, ALEXANDER MASSACHUSETTS INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY Stochastic Gene Expression in Differentiation and Development

RFA-RM-07-005

PI Name Institution Name Title
BARRETT, LISA FELDMAN BOSTON COLLEGE Emotions Are Emergent Events Constrained by Affective and Conceptual Processes
BEARMAN, PETER SHAWN COLUMBIA UNIV NEW YORK MORNINGSIDE Social Determinants of the Autism Epidemic
BROWN, EMERY N MASSACHUSETTS GENERAL HOSPITAL A Systems Neuroscience Approach for the Study of General Anesthesia
CLANDININ, THOMAS ROBERT STANFORD UNIVERSITY Dissecting the Functional Anatomy of the Visual System: A New Way Forward
COLLINS, JAMES J BOSTON UNIVERSITY (CHARLES RIVER CAMPUS) A Network Biology Approach to Antibiotic Action and Bacterial Defense Mechanisms
GARDEL, MARGARET LISE UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO 2007 NIH Directors Pioneer Award Program (DP1)
HENSCH, TAKAO K CHILDREN'S HOSPITAL CORPORATION Dissecting Non-Coding RNA Function in Critical Period Brain Development/ Disorder
HORWITZ, MARSHALL S UNIVERSITY OF WASHINGTON NIH Directors Pioneer Award
ISMAGILOV, RUSTEM F UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO 2007 NIH Directors Pioneer Award Program (DP1)
JENSEN, FRANCES E CHILDREN'S HOSPITAL CORPORATION Understanding the Cognitive Impact of Early Life Epilepsy
SCHNITZER, MARK J STANFORD UNIVERSITY Massively Parallel Brain Imaging
TURRIGIANO, GINA G BRANDEIS UNIVERSITY Probing the Structure of the Synapse Using Superresolution Light Microscopy

RFA-RM-06-005

PI Name Institution Name Title
BOAHEN, KWABENA STANFORD UNIVERSITY Neurogrid: Emulating a Million Neurons in the Cortex
CHAKRABORTY, ARUP K MASSACHUSETTS INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY Developing the Principles Governing T Lymphocyte-Mediated Autoimmunity Using an Approach at an Intersection of the Physical and Life Sciences
GIERASCH, LILA M UNIVERSITY OF MASSACHUSETTS AMHERST NIH Director's Pioneer Award Application
HEALD, REBECCA W UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA BERKELEY NIH Director's Pioneer Award Application
KIRKEGAARD, KARLA A STANFORD UNIVERSITY Dominant Drug Targets in RNA Viruses
KODADEK, THOMAS UNIVERSITY OF TEXAS SW MED CTR/DALLAS Novel Chemistry to Monitor and Manipulate the Immune System
LEE, CHENG C UNIVERSITY OF TEXAS HLTH SCI CTR HOUSTON Reversible Suspended Animation of Non-hibernating Mammals
NUDLER, EVGENY NEW YORK UNIVERSITY SCHOOL OF MEDICINE New Approaches to Fight Infection
PIELAK, GARY J UNIVERSITY OF NORTH CAROLINA CHAPEL HILL In-Cell NMR of Disease-Related Proteins
RELMAN, DAVID A STANFORD UNIVERSITY NIH Director's Pioneer Award Application
SEGAL, ROSALIND A DANA-FARBER CANCER INSTITUTE An Extended View of Self: Human Indigenous Microbial Communities in Health and Disease
SHERLEY, JAMES L MASSACHUSETTS INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY Pioneering Human Adult Stem Cell Discovery and Cellular Medicine
XIA, YOUNAN UNIVERSITY OF WASHINGTON Put Nanostructures to Work for Reading and Controlling Cell Behavior

NOT-OD-05-021

PI Name Institution Name Title
CHANDLER, VICKI L UNIVERSITY OF ARIZONA NIH Director's Pioneer Award
CLINE, HOLLIS T COLD SPRING HARBOR LABORATORY NIH Director's Pioneer Award
COSMIDES, LEDA UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA SANTA BARBARA NIH Director's Pioneer Award
DE LANGE, TITIA ROCKEFELLER UNIVERSITY NIH Director's Pioneer Award
DEISSEROTH, KARL A STANFORD UNIVERSITY NIH Director's Pioneer Award
HARBURY, PEHR A STANFORD UNIVERSITY SCHOOL OF MEDICINE NIH Director's Pioneer Award
JARVIS, ERICH D DUKE UNIVERSITY MEDICAL CENTER NIH Director's Pioneer Award
RANDO, THOMAS A STANFORD UNIVERSITY SCHOOL OF MEDICINE NIH Director's Pioneer Award
SMITH, DEREK J UNIVERSITY OF CAMBRIDGE NIH Director's Pioneer Award
TONONI, GIULIO UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN - MADISON MEDICAL SCHOOL NIH Director's Pioneer Award
WATERMAN-STORER, CLARE M SCRIPPS RESEARCH INSTITUTE NIH Director's Pioneer Award
WOLFE, NATHAN JOHNS HOPKINS UNIVERSITY NIH Director's Pioneer Award
YUAN, JUNYING HARVARD MEDICAL SCHOOL NIH Director's Pioneer Award

RFA-RM-04-500

PI Name Institution Name Title
ABBOTT, LARRY F BRANDEIS UNIVERSITY NIH Director's Pioneer Award
DALEY, GEORGE Q CHILDREN'S HOSPITAL (BOSTON) NIH Director's Pioneer Award
HELLINGA, HOMME W DUKE UNIVERSITY NIH Director's Pioneer Award
MCCUNE, JOSEPH M J. DAVID GLADSTONE INSTITUTES NIH Director's Pioneer Award
MCKNIGHT, STEVEN L UNIVERSITY OF TEXAS SW MED CTR/DALLAS NIH Director's Pioneer Award
MIRKIN, CHAD A NORTHWESTERN UNIVERSITY NIH Director's Pioneer Award
PHILLIPS, ROB CALIFORNIA INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY NIH Director's Pioneer Award
QUAKE, STEPHEN R CALIFORNIA INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY NIH Director's Pioneer Award
XIE, SUNNEY HARVARD UNIVERSITY NIH Director's Pioneer Award
 

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